TALLADEGA, Ala. — Phoenix Racing didn’t have a sponsor for this weekend’s Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway, so Kurt Busch’s girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, came up with an idea while watching the NASCAR movie “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.”

Driscoll, the president and executive director of the Armed Forces Foundation, wanted her boyfriend to run the “Me” cougar paint scheme from the 2006 movie to help promote the foundation.

“Why leave the car blank when we could do something to promote the foundation?” she said Friday. “So a few months ago, we started talking about this and I decided we were going to do this and I would convince (team owner James) Finch and everybody else they would follow.”

The idea was easy. Getting the decals and words from the movie on the car? Not so much.

Executives at Sony, which produced the film, politely declined the request. But Driscoll was undeterred.

The producers of a documentary the foundation is doing on post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans knew executives at Sony, who eventually granted approval.

Problem solved? Not exactly.

Driscoll also had to obtain permission from writer and actor Will Ferrell, the owners of the cougar and the photographer.

Finally, after two months of phone calls and pleading for permission, they got approval by everyone involved. The paint scheme includes a number to text to donate to the foundation.

“James Finch and I are pushing hard to create awareness around our car and look for sponsorship, and this will do that,” Busch said. “As well as on a serious note, this is about PTSD and what the Armed Forces Foundation does to help our military.”

The "Talladega Nights" paint scheme won’t encourage Busch to act like Ferrell’s character, Ricky Bobby, though. Driscoll guaranteed that Busch won’t be running around the car in his underwear screaming that he’s on fire.

But fans that have access to Busch’s radio channel during the race—perhaps hoping to hear some choice words from the temperamental Busch—might recognize some of the things the crew and Busch are saying.

“Everybody has memorized lines (from the movie),” she said. “It’s probably the one time that Kurt actually will want you to listen to his radio.”

Busch said that on the radio, he will be Ricky Bobby, crew chief Nick Harrison will be Lucius Washington (the crew chief from the film) and his Patricia will be Carley (the smokin’ hot wife from the film).

“Hopefully we are going to keep all my clothes on,” Busch said. “If we wreck, hopefully I don’t catch on fire. Shake and bake.”